Everyone’s waiting for you to continue. The thing is, you didn’t have anything to follow up after that. But you don’t want to disappoint, so you say the first thing that comes to your head.

“And then we can beat him up,” you conclude, earning the respect of battle-happy shrine maidens across the world. You’re sure Reimu’s clapping in her head with the approving nod that she’s giving you.

“...Him?” The badger sputters. “As in, the other guy… and not me, y-yes?”

“Do you want to be beaten up too?” asks Reimu.

With a somber expression, he shakes his head slowly and silently.

“Good.” The shrine maiden jerks a finger to the mountainside. “Now take us to your boss, leader, or whatever you call him.”

Despite how talkative the badger initially was, he does not say a word through the forest’s passage and the climb up the steady hillside. With Reimu following right behind the badger, it looks like he’s being walked to his execution—and the shrine maiden, his executioner. He stops at a patch of open area. Around is conspicuously clear of brush, as if all the foliage was trimmed away. All that’s missing is quiet in the forest, a dark mist that permeates through the woods, and you’d be wondering if you’re experiencing a serious case of deja vu.

A horned figure steps out from the cover of the trees. Just like the badger described, the youkai has a ruddy, taurus-like face. Dark splotches color the sides of the man’s face like oil, finished with a black muzzle that juts out. Mino, you think for a second before discarding it.

A quick status update: As it turns out, December is a bad month for me. I'm also devoting my writing time to catching up on writing the Nanowrimo rewards for 2018... which is as sad as it sounds. Expect delays as always. You know the drill already.

“Alright, fellas,” you say. “Time to go drop in on that Noboru human and tell him the great news. I’m sure he’ll be overwhelmed, as humans do whenever youkai drop by, but it’s better that Daiki gets her family visit out of the way before dropping the whole ‘I want to be the village’s cat youkai-slash-protector’ bomb on the populace.”

“Basically,” you say, “Daiki’s going to have the human village accept her as one of their own.”

Chen takes off her cap to frantically scratch the top of her head. The girl’s frustration spreads to her feet as she paces back and forth around the shrine’s front entrance, kicking stray stones on the ground.

“I’m no good at these kinda things,” she groans, “but isn’t that crazy?”

Men are all like that. Why would one be any different? Everyone should know why.

Whether you do or do not know, please begin by observing the girls who had to deal with them. The first three of six, each with a decision to make. Like songs of love, their fleeting stories resound with a lingering taste of life.

SanaeHey. Are you doing okay? It’s been tiring for me. Ever since we ended it, you know? It was a break up, but it was hard on both of us.

Sometimes, I hear you've been doing well. You’ve found people you can be with, they said. You have people who love you, they said. People who really love you.

>>200358>"Why won't you leave me aloooone...">"Because I feel bad about last night.">"Just go already...">"No."This is not my idea of "comforting". I don't think anyone intended to vote for staying past our welcome, and the other choice seemed like it was running away without a word. A reasonable course of action would be to try talking to her, feel out the situation, and leave if that's what she wants, but apparently the MC isn't capable of acting reasonably.

>>200357>a broken record of constant caution>over a dozen pretty blatant warningsWarnings like the danger of youkai being called "lies"? Warnings like Rumia's desire to murder the MC being treated as a nuisance? Warnings like the MC being fine after Cirno encased him in ice? Warnings like the MC surviving to be an old man despite being the kind of guy to lure in a kappa out of boredom?

"And, same as always, you live." And this is what finally does him in?

So uh is this a "wrap it up lads, story's over" bad end, a "alright you died reload a save and don't make the same retarded choices" bad end, a "pops died and now I'm the protagonist" surprise, "old man kappafucker's journey through the afterlife" transition, or what? Between the arguing I'm not sure what's going on

Once more, you find the intercom and insert the key. The wave of exhaustion hits you as soon as the static, but you find that you’re able to fight against it this time.

“What do you want of me?” You ask the white noise.

“Don’t let her struggle be in vain.” You don’t hear the words so much as you feel them. “She deserves that much, wouldn’t you agree, dear?”

An image appears in your mind - of a woman with long, ink-black hair in red and white shaman attire, standing tall with her back to you.

“You’re talking about the Hakurei? Well, what would that entail?” You ask, muffling a yawn.

If it was possible for a butterfly to shrug, you swear it would have. More figures appear before your mind, this time blurry and indistinct - flashes of a woman in red and a man in blue, both with silver hair - but the vision slides across your consciousness like suds on glass before you can see it clearly.

“I’m going to need more than that.” You say, earning an annoyed flick of antennae.

This time, you see them with plumes of light rising from their backs, reaching for the sky.

I am not sure if this is the right place to post this and if it is not, I sincerely apologize. I notice that there are many of you within this website that are quite talented when it comes to writing, especially in relation to Touhou material. With that being said, any of you are more than welcome to join Gensokyo Unlimited, which is the most active Touhou role-playing community on Discord! Use original characters or take control of a canon character as you embark on incidents that are made by yours truly! We are a very welcoming community dedicated to creating wonderful experiences for veterans or newcomers in relation to role-playing alike! The link is below!